What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life (28 page)

Notes

Chapter 1. Odors in the Mind

“It is very obvious”
Alexander Graham Bell, “Discovery and invention,”
National Geographic
, June 1914.

Some people aren’t daunted
Michael Murphy,
The Future of the Body: Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature
(Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1992), p. 68; Vitus B. Dröscher,
The Magic of the Senses: New Discoveries in Animal Perception
(New York: E. P. Dutton, 1969), p. 100 (translation of 1966 German original); Andrew Hamilton, “What science is learning about smell,”
Science Digest
, November 1966, p. 81–84.

I began with a paper
M. Milinski and C. Wedekind, “Evidence for MHC-correlated perfume preferences,”
Behavioral Ecology
12 (2001): 140–49;B. C. Prasad and R. R. Reed, “Chemosensation: Molecular mechanisms in worms and mammals,”
Trends in Genetics
15 (1999): 150–53; Trygg Engen,
The Perception of Odor
, (Academic Press, 1982), p. 99; R. H. Wright,
The Science of Smell
(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1964), p. 80.

I found it once more
John M. deMan,
Principles of Food Chemistry
, 3rd edition (New York: Springer, 1999), p. 287; A. Dravnieks, “Current status of odor theories,” in
Flavor Chemistry
, edited by Irwin Hornstein (Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, 1966); R. M. Hainer, A. G. Emslie, and A. Jacobson, “An information theory of olfaction,”
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
58 (1954):158–74.

he was Ernest C. Crocker
“Crocker speaks at initiation banquet,”
The Tech
(MIT student paper), May 15, 1934, p. 1; “Ernest Charlton Crocker (1888–1964),” in
A Dictionary of Psychology
, edited by Andrew M. Colman (Oxford University Press, 2001).

Crocker and another
E. C. Crocker and L. F. Henderson, “Analysis and classification of odors: An effort to develop a workable method,”
The American Perfumer & Essential Oil Review
22 (1927):325; Edwin G. Boring, “A new system for the classification of odors,”
American Journal of Psychology
40(1928):345–49.

took the number and ran with it
ADL continues to cite Crocker and his big numbers to this day. See “Sensory Benchmarking: The U.S. Soymilk Market 2001,” a report by Soyatech, Inc., and Arthur D. Little, Inc., p. 5.

A pair of industrial engineers
W. Barfield and E. Danas, “Comments on the use of olfactory displays for virtual environments,”
Presence
5 (1996): 109–21.

naming categories of color
T. Regier, P. Kay, and N. Khetarpal, “Color naming reflects optimal partitions of color space,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
104 (2007):1436–41.

Noble’s approach to aroma
H. Heymann and A. C. Noble, “Descriptive analysis of commercial Cabernet Sauvignon wines from California,”
American Journal of Enology and Viticulture
38 (1987):41–44.

Wine Aroma Wheel
A. C. Noble, R. A. Arnold, et al., “Modification of a standardized system of wine aroma terminology,”
American Journal of Enology and Viticulture
38 (1987):143–46; “foodstuffs” quote from p. 144. The Wine Aroma Wheel can also be found online at
www.winearomawheel.com
.

smell classification for beer
M. C. Meilgaard, “Flavor Chemistry of Beer,”
Master Brewers Association of the Americas Technical Quarterly
12 (1975):107.

appeal of aroma wheels
N. P. Jolly and S. Hattingh, “A brandy aroma wheel for South African brandy,”
South African Journal for Enology and Viticulture
22 (2001):16–21; G. A. Burlingame, I. H. Suffet, et al., “Development of an odor wheel classification scheme for wastewater,”
Water Science and Technology
49 (2004):201–9. Mandy Aftel’s Natural Perfume Wheel can be found at
www.aftelier.com
.

there are at least 1,000
Nancy Jeffries, “Fragrance Awards, Beauty Trends and the Scent of Peace,”
GCI
, June 2006, pp. 20–22; Jeff Falk, “How’s that for originality?”
GCI
, October 2005, p. 4.

professional perfumers
Robert R. Calkin and J. Stephan Jellinek,
Perfumery: Practice and Principles
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994), p. 24.

The leading teaching technique
Interviews with Kari Arienti, June 30, 2004 and December 20, 2007, and with René Morgenthaler, December 19, 2007.

to think like a perfumer
Calkin and Jellinek,
Perfumery
, pp. 24, 61.

“
Vibrantly feminine floralcy
”
The Fragrance Foundation Reference Guide
, 23rd edition (2002), p. 64.

“
It’s intended to target
”
Global Cosmetic Industry
, April 2004, p.14.

“Après l’Ondée
evolves only slightly
” Luca Turin, quoted in Chandler Burr,
The Emperor of Scent
(New York: Random House, 2002), p. 36.

“This is the scent of the darkness”
Chandler Burr, “Dark Victory,”
New York Times “T” Style Magazine
, August 27, 2006.

perfume fans might prefer
“Now that’s stinking rich,”
Sunday Metro
, July 13, 2006 (published online as well).

bookish desk-jockey
Ernst Mayr,
The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance
(Boston: Harvard University Press, 1982).

the actual treatise
Carl von Linné,
Odores medicamentorum
, Amoenitates Academicae 3, 183–201, 1752. The specific author is Andreas Magnus Wåhlin, series no. XXXVIII. Little is known about Wåhlin, but scholars believe Linnaeus was the driving force behind the smell project. (From correspondence with Gunnar Broberg.)

To his way of thinking
To get the flavor of Linnaeus’s odd logic, see Aphorhisms 358–362 in his
Philosophia Botanica,
translated by Stephen Freer (Oxford University Press, 2003).

wild-goose chase
Modern researchers continue to mistake Linnaeus for an odor classifier. See, for example, M. Zarzo and D.T. Stanton, “Identification of latent variables in a semantic odor profile database using principal component analysis,”
Chemical Senses
31 (2006):713–724.

Zwaardemaker’s classification
Hendrik Zwaardemaker,
Die Physiologie des Geruchs
(Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1895).

German physiologist Hans Henning
Hans Henning,
Der Geruch
(Leipzig: J. A. Barth, 1916).

dismantling of the odor prism
For background on this, see M. W. Levine,
Fundamentals of Sensation and Perception
, 3rd edition (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001); P. M. Wise, M. J. Olsson, and W. S. Cain, “Quantification of odor quality,”
Chemical Senses
25 (2000):429–43; Stanley Finger,
Origins of Neuroscience: A History of Explorations into Brain Function
(Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

new system of smell classification
Crocker and Henderson, “Analysis and classification of odors,” p. 325.

a stunning blow
S. Ross and A. E. Harriman, “A preliminary study of the Crocker-Henderson odor-classification system,”
American Journal of Psychology
62 (1949):399–404.

burst of innovation
John E. Amoore,
Molecular Basis of Odor
(Springfield, Ill.: Thomas, 1970).

Australian psychologist David Laing
Key findings of Laing’s that I discuss here are referenced in A. Livermore and D. G. Laing, “The influence of chemical complexity on the perception of multicomponent odor mixtures,”
Perception & Psychophysics
60 (1998):650–61, and in A. Livermore and D. G. Laing, “The influence of odor type on the discrimination and identification of odorants in multicomponent odor mixtures,”
Physiology & Behavior
65 (1998):311–20.

Chapter 2. The Molecules That Matter

The planet Mars
Leonard David, “Mars stinks: Sulfur deposits may make Red Planet putrid,”
Space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_stinks_040308.htm
(March 8, 2004).

researchers in Salt Lake City
J. G. Moore, L. D. Jessop, and D. N. Osborne, “Gas-chromatographic and mass-spectrometric analysis of the odor of human feces,”
Gastroenterology
93 (1987):1321–29.

olfactory analysis of farts
F. L. Suarez, J. Springfield, and M. D. Levitt, “Identification of gases responsible for the odour of human flatus and evaluation of a device purported to reduce this odour,”
Gut
43 (1998): 100–104.

chemical composition of baby farts
T. Jiang, F. L. Suarez, et al., “Gas production by feces of infants,”
Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition
32 (2001):534–41.

Another cherished belief
T. I. Case, B. M. Repacholi, and R. J. Stevenson, “My baby doesn’t smell as bad as yours: The plasticity of disgust,”
Evolution and Human Behavior
27 (2006):357–65.

outsized cultural impact
“Blagojevich Enjoys Campaign Trail, While Ryan Endures It: Democrat’s Baggage Hasn’t Slowed His Momentum,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
, October 6, 2002; Warhol attribution from
www.hempfiles.com
.

are therefore odorless
The National Toxicology Program (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) lists the odor of THC as “none found,” an impression confirmed by Eran Pichersky (interview September 19, 2006) and by Jim Woodford (interview April 11, 2007). THC, cannabinol, and cannabidiol are “nonvolatile” according to M. Rothschild, G. Bergström, and S. Wängberg, “
Cannabis sativa
: Volatile compounds from pollen and entire male and female plants of two variants, Northern Lights and Hawaiian Indica,”
Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
147 (2005):387–97.

Early in his career
Interview with W. James Woodford, April 11, 2007.

found in flower scents
J. Horiuchi, D. V. Badri, et al., “The floral volatile, methyl benzoate, from snapdragon (
Antirrhinum majus
) triggers phytotoxic effects in
Arabidopsis thaliana
,”
Planta
226 (2007):1–10; M. Kondo, N. Oyama-Okubo, et al., “Floral scent diversity is differently expressed in emitted and endogenous components in
Petunia axillaris
lines,”
Annals of Botany
(London) 98 (2006):1253–59.

fake Ecstasy aroma
N. Lorenzo, T. Wan, et al., “Laboratory and field experiments used to identify
Canis lupus
var.
familiaris
active odor signature chemicals from drugs, explosives, and humans,”
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry
376 (2003):1212–24.

chemistry of marijuana
L. V. Hood, M. E. Dames, and G. T. Barry, “Headspace volatiles of marijuana,”
Nature
242 (1973):402–3; L. V. Hood and G.T. Barry, “Headspace volatiles of marihuana and hashish: Gas chromatographic analysis of samples of different geographic origin,”
Journal of Chromatography
166 (1978):499–506; S. A. Ross and M. A. ElSohly, “The volatile oil composition of fresh and air-dried buds of
Cannabis sativa,” Journal of Natural Products
59 (1996):49–51; Rothschild, Bergström, and Wängberg, “
Cannabis sativa
,” pp. 387–97.

Beck concert
Matt Coker, “Live Review: Smell You Later; Beck: The Pacific Amphitheatre,”
OC Weekly
, vol. 10, no. 47, July 29–August 4, 2005.

an anomalous finding
R. O. Pihl, D. Shea, and L. Costa, “Odor and marijuana intoxication,”
Journal of Clinical Psychology
34 (1978):775–79.

industry pundits were coy Multichannel News
, August 14, 2006; “Pass the Scent Strip,” Ad
Age.com
, August 10, 2006.

“The air was steaming”
John Muir,
The Overland Monthly
, June 1875.

the plant he smelled
Karen Wiese,
Sierra Nevada Wildflowers
(Helena, Montana: Falcon Publishing Inc., 2000).

“approximately the amount given off”
R. Kaiser, “Scents from rain forests,”
Chimia
54 (2000):346–63.

study and preserve the scent
R. Kaiser, “Vanishing flora—lost chemistry: The scents of endangered plants around the world,”
Chemistry & Biodiversity
1 (2004):13–27.

Hexenone has been fingered
S. Widder, A. Sen, and W. Grosch, “Changes in the flavour of butter oil during storage; identification of potent odorants,”
Zeitschrift für Lebensmitteluntersuchung und–Forschung A
193 (1991):32–35;I. Blank, K.-H. Fischer, and W. Grosch, “Intensive neutral odourants of linden honey: Differences from honeys of other botanical origin,”
Zeitschrift für Lebensmitteluntersuchung und–Forschung A
189 (1989):426–33; D. D. Roberts and T. E. Acree, “Effects of heating and cream addition on fresh raspberry aroma using a retronasal simulator and gas chromatography olfactometry,”
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
44 (1996):3919–25.

“strong and distinct” odor
George B. Longstaff,
Butterfly-hunting in Many Lands
(London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912), p. 491.

Males of the Green-veined White
J. Andersson, A. K. Borg-Karlson, C. Wiklund, “Sexual conflict and anti-aphrodisiac titre in a polyandrous butterfly: Male ejaculate tailoring and absence of female control,”
Proceedings: Biological Sciences
271 (2004):1765–70; J. Andersson, A. K. Borg-Karlson, and C. Wiklund, “Antiaphrodisiacs in pierid butterflies: A theme with variation!”
Journal of Chemical Ecology
29 (2003):1489–99.

countermeasures can backfire
N. E. Fatouros, M. E. Huigens, et al., “Chemical communication: Butterfly anti-aphrodisiac lures parasitic wasps,”
Nature
433 (2005):704.